


Christmas: Operation Girlfriend

by danacas1101



Series: Holiday High [2]
Category: Wynonna Earp (TV)
Genre: Christmas, F/F, Fluff, Ugly Sweaters, Wynonna wants to help, just so much fluff, white elephany party
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-02
Updated: 2021-01-02
Packaged: 2021-03-11 01:15:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,674
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28496661
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/danacas1101/pseuds/danacas1101
Summary: It’s been 37 days since Waverly and Nicole’s Halloween kiss and the Christmas season is here. Everything’s been going great between them, except their relationship status hasn’t been made official. They’ve both been dying to ask the other but who will do it first? And who in the group actually gives helpful advice?Aka the one with lots of queer panic about what’s the “best” way to ask someone to be your girlfriend, an Ugly Sweater party, and everyone trying to help make WayHaught official with a varying degree of success.
Relationships: Waverly Earp/Nicole Haught
Series: Holiday High [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2087409
Comments: 4
Kudos: 85





	Christmas: Operation Girlfriend

**Author's Note:**

> Apparently, I wasn’t done writing about this crew as a group of high schoolers. 
> 
> As always a huge thank-you to B, who has now put up with my sensitive writer soul for a whole year. She’s the real star here and also came up with the title.

Nicole Haught often wondered how she got herself into situations like the one she was currently in. Then she remembered the brunette standing behind her. 

Bingo. 

“Haught, that tree is still fucking crooked. You need to move the weights again,” Wynonna ordered as she opened up a beer. 

Nicole was sweaty, smelled like pine, and really wanted to get off the ground. But she adjusted the weights  _ again _ , hoping this would be the last freaking time. On her hands and knees, she crawled out from under the tree, and swatted herself in the face with a few branches during her exit. 

Wynonna backed up a few feet as Nicole stayed on the ground, looking at the tree the way an art critic takes in a new piece. Hand under her chin with what Dolls had joked was Wynonna’s “thinking” face.

“Welllllll…it looks fine,” she shrugged. “I guess.”

Nicole glared at her former best friend. 

“Why don’t you get under the tree and fix it then?” 

Wynonna flipped her hair over her shoulder. “Oh, Naughty Haughty. I don’t get on my knees for anyone. I’m not you.”

“I...what...Waverly and I haven’t even...” Nicole tried to spit out a full sentence. “I haven’t gotten on my…”

The front door to the Homestead opened, a blur of snow and brown hair as the younger Earp entered, looking very cute in Nicole’s varsity jacket and like something out of a holiday catalog. Her red and green plaid scarf wrapped tightly around her neck. Waverly closed the door behind her quickly in an attempt to keep the wind out. She shivered as she set her bags down.

“You haven’t gotten on your what, baby?” Waverly asked innocently as she hung up her, well technically, Nicole’s coat. But Waverly had no plans of giving it back. 

Nicole’s entire face flushed as Wynonna snorted behind her. “Nothing, Waves. Wynonna was just being a jackass.”

“So, typical Wynonna?” Waverly winked at her sister before she quickly kissed Nicole. God, she loved how she could just do that now whenever she wanted, like she had for the last 37 days, ever since their first kiss on Halloween.

They hadn’t made anything official yet, even though Waverly was itching to ask Nicole to be her girlfriend. But every time she pumped herself up to do it she would get lost in everything about Nicole, her touch, her smile, those dimples, and then hours would go by as they spent time together. It always felt so natural and easy between them, much like it had before they started kissing and holding hands and did she mention the kissing? Because she really liked the kissing. Next thing she knew, Nicole would be on her way home, and Waverly would berate herself for not asking. Again. 

She wanted the moment to be special though. Nicole deserved something grand and romantic. If only Waverly could figure out what exactly that looked like.

The brunette shook herself from her thoughts, then wrapped her hands around the taller woman’s waist, sliding them slightly under her shirt, where she knew they would become warm. Nicole, much like her last name, always ran hot.

Nicole yelped as cold met her back. 

“Hands please.” She held hers out in the space between them. 

Waverly pouted. “But your back is already warming them up.” She moved her hands further up Nicole’s back.

“Nope, no pout. Not gonna work. Gimmie those popsicles you call hands.”

Waverly reluctantly moved her hands from under Nicole’s flannel, making sure to squeeze tightly, which caused daggers from those mocha eyes. Well, as close to dagger eyes as Nicole’s puppy eyes could get. 

Waverly placed her hands between Nicole’s, who covered them with her own, and blew warm air into the pocket she had made. She rubbed them together to create heat, and Waverly could admit, albeit begrudgingly, that this did the trick to warm them up just as well.

The side of Nicole’s lip curved into a small smile once she felt Waverly’s hands get back to their normal chill level. She took them both and kissed her knuckles lightly. 

“That better?” 

“Yeah, I guess,” Waverly smirked. 

Nicole cocked an eyebrow. “You guess? Fine. When you get ice cube trays for hands, like tomorrow, let Wynonna help you out.” She stuck her tongue out at the brunette.

Before Waverly could answer Wynonna yelled, “Baby girl, you better stay on Haught’s good side because I’m not touching those icicles.”

Nicole smiled triumphantly and kissed away the adorable pout starting on her girlfriend’s -- Wait, were they girlfriends yet? No one had officially said anything? Maybe Nicole should woman up and ask? -- face.

“Waves, as long as you’ll have me, I’ll always be here to warm up your hands.” 

Waverly beamed and got on her tiptoes to kiss her, um, Nicole. 

“Now that that’s settled, Haught, we need you to get this up on top of the tree.”

Nicole wrapped her arm around Waverly’s shoulder. Her attempt to look mean somehow made Nicole look softer.

“Dude, I have done everything from go with you to get the tree, drag the thing inside the house, and I set it up! All while you just sat around and told me what was wrong with how I was doing it. You do it!” she yelled.

Wynonna held out an angel Nicole knew well. She tried to keep a stoic face. This wasn’t even her Christmas tree and Wynonna had done nothing but order Nicole around all afternoon. 

But that damn angel brought back the memory of a 5-year-old Waverly as she ran around the house, after she found an old doll head with a halo and a box of tampons under the bathroom sink. Neither girl knew what they were but Waverly declared they would make a pretty skirt and that was good enough for Nicole. 

She had grabbed Nicole’s hand and dragged her to her room to help. Waverly bounced up and down as it came together, in between telling Nicole where to put the tape and asking nicely to hold still while Waverly attached the tampons together with far too much tape. The image of Waverly with her tongue slightly stuck out the side of her mouth in concentration, glitter somehow all over the both of them, still as fresh in Nicole’s memory now as the day it happened.

The memory combined with the excited energy coming off of Waverly, unfortunately, much to Nicole’s attempt to be mad, made a smile form.

Waverly cuddled up into the redhead’s side and whispered. “But baby, you’re the tallest.” She put on her best smile as Nicole looked at her. “Please?”

I mean, what else was Nicole supposed to do when a face like that looks at you and you’re all warm from cherished memories?

“Ok, Waves.” Nicole continued to smile like a doofus as she took the angel from Wynonna, who muttered loudly that she was whipped. 

“Damn right, I am,” Nicole said, putting the angel in its place on the top of the tree.

The redhead stood back to admire her work. “There, perfect.”

_ Sure is, _ Waverly thought, eyes looking nowhere near the tree.

\---------------------------

After four hours, one more box of decorations, two classic Christmas movies, and a very short but passionate debate about whether candy canes should only be allowed in original mint flavor or not, Nicole sighed and told the room she should probably head home. 

She grabbed her army green winter coat off the hook and left her varsity jacket, which brought a smile to Waverly’s face. The brunette played with the hem of Nicole’s flannel, not ready to break the distance between them. 

“Ok, so, text me when you get home so I know you made it back safe.”

“Promise.” Nicole’s dimples popped out as she bent down to softly kiss Waverly. “Then I’ll be back tomorrow for the Ugly Sweater party. Well, after I shower, then I’ll be over, because gross.”

Waverly chuckled and moved her arms around Nicole’s shoulders. “I mean, I’ll still like you even if you smell like skunk hiney mixed with peppermint butt.”

“That is oddly specific, Waves.” The right eyebrow lifted on Nicole’s face. “Something you want to share?”

Wynonna snorted, loudly, as she rolled out from her chair, where the duo had clearly forgotten she had been all evening, and walked over. 

“Well, there was this one time Waverly thought she found a new pet cat outside that had a long white stripe down its back,” Wynonna started with barely contained laughter. “And oh boy, was little Waverly in for a smelly surprise when she went to pet it.”

A flush worked its way up Waverly’s neck, her face got hot. She kissed Nicole and opened the door behind her. That particular moment was not one she had hoped to ever have to relive again. Especially not in front of her very cute, maybe, kind-of girlfriend.

“And that’s how the story ends!” Waverly screamed, her voice reaching a decibel that made Wynonna laugh harder as she tried to continue the story. “Night, Nicole!”

“But really, the best part was when she came back inside…”

Waverly shoved Nicole out the door onto the porch. The redhead chuckled lightly as she worked her way down the stairs then walked to her car. She looked back once to see Waverly as she covered Wynonna’s mouth with her hand.

“Bye, baby! Drive safe!” 

Suddenly, for some reason unbeknownst to Waverly, her hand shot a finger gun at Nicole, who waved back from the driver’s seat. 

_ Why is it always the finger guns? _ Waverly thought. Her train of thought interrupted as she felt something wet on her palm.

“Gross! Did you just  _ lick _ me?” 

“Sure did, baby girl.” Wynonna smiles proudly.

Wynonna moved back to the couch while Waverly ran her palm over her pants, and tried to get all the Wynonna spit off. She grumbled the entire time.

“Also, you and your girlfriend make  _ The Notebook  _ look bleak.” Wynonna not very gracefully plopped on the couch, her eyes still on her sister. “You two practice those looks in the mirror?”

Waverly stopped what she was doing. Her back hunched as her palm was still on her pant leg, her face frozen. 

“Nicole’s, um, well you see, she’s not exactly,” Waverly began. She felt the words about to tumble out of her mouth with no way to stop them. 

She walked in front of her sister and began to pace. 

“I mean, Nicole hasn’t asked, and well, I haven’t either, but I  _ really _ want to. It’s just that smile and those dimples are so distracting and then fudgenuggets.” Waverly stopped mid-pace, a deep furrow set in between her eyebrows. “Should she have asked by now? Should I have asked by now? Does this mean we aren’t going to work?! I’m going to have to give back so many sweatshirts! My hands will never be warm again!”

Wynonna sat up on the couch and put her feet on the floor. “Hold up, baby girl. One, chill out. Two, Nicole hasn’t asked you to be her girlfriend yet?”

“Um, no.” Waverly saw the fire start in her sister’s eyes. “But, before you go all Wynonna about how you’re going to go over there and kick her ass and no one deserves me, just stop.”

The fire began to die but the embers still burned. 

“Fine.” Wynonna took a steadying breath. “Go on as to why I shouldn’t be on my way to speak loudly at my best friend.”

Waverly took a spot next to Wynonna. She brought her knees up to her chest and rested her chin on them. 

“Well, I think she’s waiting for me to do it because Nicole is probably worried that if she asks too early I’ll freak out or something, especially since every step so far has gone at my pace, which obvs I so appreciate, but I really, really, really want to be her girlfriend, Wynonna.” 

Waverly’s voice grew small. “I want to ask her, but, well, what if she says no? What if my asking now is too fast for her? Or if she isn’t actually looking for anything serious?”

She bit her lower lip and her eyes began to water as the real truth was finally spoken aloud. Waverly had wanted to ask immediately after they had  _ finally  _ kissed but this was a big step, one she had never taken before, and the anxiety of that mixed with the fear of the unknown of Nicole’s response, made Waverly feel queasy. 

Other than Wynonna, Nicole had always been one of the most important people in Waverly’s life. Almost all of her good memories included Nicole, and more importantly, she had been there in the aftermath of a lot of the bad ones too, like when Momma left or in the third-grade when Waverly fell off the monkey bars and broke her arm. Nicole had held her and comforted her and been there for her in a way she knew, even back then, was rare and special. 

“Waves.” Wynonna took her sister’s hand, her face softened. “There’s no way she’s going to say no. She looks at you like you’re the fudge to her sundae. Plus, she would be crazy not to because you’re the best of us.”

Waverly sniffed but felt her lips begin to curl. “Thanks, ‘Nonna. I guess you’re right.”

“Of course I am!” She leaned in close with a wicked smile Waverly knew all too well. “Now, I’m going to help you figure out a plan.”

\------------------

Waverly’s agreement to let Wynonna help her was how she found herself here, in the living room, a whiteboard now in front of her that looked like something out of  _ A Beautiful Mind _ . Ideas scribbled in Wynonna’s barely legible handwriting. 

One in particular circled in bright red at the center of the board. 

“Wynonna, this is an awful idea,” Waverly deadpanned.

“I believe you mean brilliant,” Wynonna said before she hit herself in the head with the dry erase marker. “Ouch.”

Waverly rolled her eyes. “No, really, this might be one of the worst plans you’ve ever come up with. And you’re the one who gave me the peppermint lotion to use for the skunk spray because iT WoUlD mAKe Me SmeLL nIcE.”

“I still can’t believe you fell for that,” Wynonna doubled over from laughter. 

“I was five!” Waverly crossed her arms and stomped her foot.

“And you look five right now with this temper tantrum you’re throwing.”

Waverly uncrossed her arms and mumbled, “You would know all about temper tantrums, ya big baby.”

“What now?” 

“Nothing.” Waverly walked toward the board. Her eyes roamed over Wynonna’s many ideas for this. “You sure this is a good idea?”

Wynonna put her arm around Waverly’s shoulders. “Baby girl, not all my plans can be winners, but this one is a winner. It’s a Haught one, that’s for sure.”

Waverly looked and took in all the ideas Wynonna had pitched. They had all been pretty terrible if Waverly was going to be honest. But it’s not like she had anything of her own. 

She sighed in defeat. “Alright, I guess we should go to the mall now.”

Wynonna’s victory cheer could be heard in the next town over.

\----------------

“How did you do it?”

“Do what?” Jeremy asked, genuinely confused. He gathered the remaining papers together and put them in his binder labeled, “Varsity Basketball Statistics, Season 2020.”

“Ask Robin to be your boyfriend.”

Jeremy thought for a moment. Then a bedazzling smile crossed his face as they began to walk towards their cars.

“Oh, well, we were watching  _ Friday Night Lights _ then it just hit me that I wanted him to be my boyfriend,” Jeremy shrugged. “So I paused the episode and asked. And he said yes. Then we went back to watching  _ Friday Night Lights. _ ”

Nicole stopped in her tracks and spun around, her shoes made a circle in the snow. “Wait, that’s it? That’s all you did? And Robin said yes? Just like that?”

“Yup!”

“Oh, ok.” Nicole had hoped Jeremy was going to tell her something more elaborate than that, something that had taken planning. That had been grand and with finesse. It couldn’t be that easy, could it? Nicole began to rub at the back of her neck as her mind wandered to all the missed moments where she apparently could’ve  _ just asked. _

“Why does Nicole look like that time she ate too many tacos then immediately ran to the bathroom?” Dolls asked. He pushed his practice bag up higher on his shoulder and readjusted the basketball under his arm.

Nicole jolted back to the moment after she heard her name. “I do not!” 

Jeremy ignored her and turned to Dolls. “We were just talking about how I asked Robin to be my boyfriend before,” he waved his hands, “that face happened.”

Both boys looked back at Nicole, who felt her cheeks warm. 

“What are you two looking at?”

Dolls and Jeremy shared a look but only the former was brave enough to ask.

“You haven’t made it official with Little Earp yet, have you?”

Nicole sputtered and mumbled something neither understood but her face said enough. She could barely look at either of them.

Jeremy was far less collected. “You haven’t asked Waverly to be your girlfriend yet?! WHAT? Nicole, I thought you did that foreverrrrr ago!”

Dolls punched him in the arm. Hard. With a pointed look he asked, “You want to try that again, Jeremy?"

“That was unnecessary.” Jeremy rubbed at his arm. “But really, Nicole, you haven’t asked yet?”

“Technically, no. I want it to be extra special because she’s  _ Waverly _ , but I don’t want to ask too soon and totally freak her out. It hasn’t even been that long since we kissed for the first time. She’s never had a girlfriend before, maybe she doesn’t even want one,” Nicole said, her eyes looked everywhere but at her friends. 

Dolls put a hand on her arm, abruptly stopping her word vomit.

“Well, you sure are starting to sound like her with that monologue you just did,” Dolls joked. “But really, Nicole, anyone with eyes can see you two belong together. There’s no way she’s going to say no.”

“Yeah Nicole, just ask. It really doesn’t have to be anything fancy,” Jeremy said sincerely. 

“But how, how will I know it's the right moment?” she asked.

“You just will,” Dolls and Jeremy replied in unison. 

Nicole rolled her eyes and opened the door to her car.

“This was unbelievably unhelpful!” Nicole yelled. 

She popped her head out the window of the driver’s seat. “I’ll see you at the party later? Where we will not be bringing this up.”

Nicole gave what she hoped was an intimidating look. It was not. 

“Aye aye, captain.” Jeremy gave her a mock salute while Dolls nodded, a smirk starting to appear. 

“Good, glad that’s settled then.”

Nicole’s red pick-up truck left the parking lot, where both boys still stood. As soon as her car was out of sight Jeremy looked over at Dolls.

“We’re totally going to bring it up later at the Ugly Sweater party and help them, aren’t we?”

Dolls put his arm around Jeremy’s shoulder. “We sure are.”

\----------------

Waverly put in her favorite gold hoop earrings and ran her hands down her red vest, covered in candy canes and silver bells that jiggled every time she moved. Underneath was a turtleneck decorated with tiny holly and Santa Claus skiing around the trim. 

She looked in the mirror, where the items from the mall -- Nicole’s wrapped in a gift bag with red and green tissue, Waverly’s still in the bag from the store -- glared back.

The brunette huffed and moved towards them. Waverly kicked Nicole’s, which fell over, the tissue paper and its contents now barely poking out.

“Stupid Wynonna and her stupid idea.” Waverly sat on her bed, her head in her hands. Instead of being excited for tonight, one of her favorite Earp traditions with some of her favorite people, she felt herself becoming a big ball of anxiety. But that wasn’t totally the gift’s fault.

She bent down to put it back together neatly and set both on her dresser.

“I’m sorry for kicking you, you didn’t deserve that,” she whispered. “I just really want her to say yes and I’m not going to lie, I’m not sure you’re going to do it for her.” 

Waverly looked, expecting an answer, when Wynonna slammed open her door. She leaned against the door frame, a glass of whiskey already in her hand. Wynonna nodded towards the gifts and smiled.

“This will work, Waverly. Trust me,” she snorted. “When are you going to give it to her?” 

“I...I don’t know, I’ll figure it out.” She pushed Wynonna out the door, which she closed behind her. “Just, let me do it on my own and don’t ya know, pull a you and go barreling downstairs shouting about how you know a secret that Nicole is going to love and then wink at her. It freaks her out.”

Wynonna mocked gasped as she held her glass tight to her chest. “Waverly Earp, I would never.”

She stood silent and simply looked at her sister.

“I won’t, I swear.” Wynonna made what Waverly thought was supposed to be the sign of the cross. “Now, come on, let’s get this party started.”

\----------------

Nicole arrived at the Homestead a little after eight. But instead of going inside immediately, like she usually would, she found herself sitting in her car. The Homestead always looked so pretty in the winter with a fresh coat of snow. The moment before it was covered in footsteps and tire tracks. She watched as it fell slowly around her and tried to calm herself down. 

Her conversation with Dolls and Jeremy had sent her into a bit of a tailspin all afternoon, which she had spent overanalyzing any moment she had with Waverly since they kissed. Had Nicole missed the  _ moment _ ? And if they had, could she find another? 

_ Breathe in through the nose, out through the mouth, in through the nose, out through the… _

“Nicole!” Jeremy knocked on her window, only muffled slightly by the glass between them. The loud sound made Nicole jump in her seat, hitting her head on the inside of her car. She rubbed the spot as she lowered her window.

“Yes, Jeremy?” She really hoped that didn’t leave a bump.

He smiled nervously. “What are you doing? The party’s inside?” Jeremy turned to Robin. “It is inside, right? I did not bring the right coat to be outside all night! Or my good gloves!”

Robin said yes and his eyes became half-moons as he smiled, calming Jeremy’s nervous energy. The two moved back a few steps as Nicole got out of her car, moving with about the pace of a sloth. 

Nicole took in the two of them for the first time and noticed their sweaters for the evening were in fact one big sweater, with a giant transformer with a Santa Hat across the center. She laughed as the hat lit up. 

“Are you two wearing one big ass sweater?”

Nicole noticed as Robin moved closer to Jeremy underneath it, his arm firmly around the other man’s waist. “Sure are,” Robin said.

“It was my idea!” 

“That does not surprise me at all.” She smiled as she felt some of her anxiety from earlier slip away. “Come on, let’s go inside.”

Nicole followed as the two walked arm-in-arm, then through the Homestead door sideways, where Wynonna could be heard singing, badly and off-key, what Nicole was 99 percent sure was the theme song from  _ Pretty Little Liars _ .

As Nicole started to wonder why Wynonna was singing a theme song from a show that ended years ago she caught Waverly staring at her from the front porch, leaning against the door. Looking like the hottest elementary school art teacher in her turtleneck and vest. 

“You gonna stand out here all night?” Waverly asked. Her eyes crinkled as Nicole moved closer and swiftly kissed her. Just a peck, nothing that lingered. 

“Nah, see, my girl…” Nicole coughed to cover her almost slip-up. “My best girl has really cold hands, like all the time, and if I freeze out here I wouldn’t be able to warm them up.” Nicole brushed her nose along the bridge of Waverly’s. “And I’m 99 percent sure that’s why she keeps going out with me.”

Waverly playfully rolled her eyes and said in a monotone voice, “Yup, caught me. That’s the only reason I keep you around.”

“I knew it!” Nicole pumped her arm in the air in victory.

“You are such a dork.”

“Yeah, but you like it.”

“Yeah, yeah, whateverrrrrr. You’re alright.” Waverly took Nicole’s hand and linked them together, pushing through the door of the Homestead. Nicole’s smile could’ve lit up the whole house.

\----------------

Nicole had been minding her own business in the kitchen, grabbing beers for herself and Waverly, when Jeremy and Dolls entered, unannounced.

“Sooooo, did ya do it?” Jeremy asked.

She slowly turned to look at them both and doubled over in laughter. 

Jeremy and Robin decided about an hour into the evening that their one big sweater was too fun not to have multiple people try on. Pairings so far had included Doc and Robin, Jeremy and Waverly, and currently, Jeremy and Dolls. Wynonna and Rosita had called dibs next.

Nicole watched as the sweater lit up, and no matter how intense Dolls tried to look, that, combined with the boys’ height difference, brought her as much joy as a kid opening presents on Christmas Day.

She continued laughing until Dolls cleared his throat.

“I’m sorry, what did you ask?” Nicole giggled. 

Jeremy quickly looked behind them to make sure no one else was coming into the kitchen. He tried to raise both his arms but the one in the sweater got caught, chasing Dolls to swat it back down into the sweater. 

“Did ya, ya knowwww?” Jeremy stage whispered, putting extra emphasis on the last syllable. 

Nicole blinked slowly and set the beers on the counter. She crossed her arms, the reindeer’s eyes on her sweater popping up over her forearms.

“What happened to you promising to not bring this up tonight?” She whispered, the anxiety in her voice evident. 

The left side of Dolls’ mouth started to rise up into what Nicole knew was an incoming smirk. 

“Technically, we didn’t promise anything,” Dolls said, the smirk very much on his face. 

Nicole hated this technicality. 

“You are lucky I’m a good friend and don’t go in there and tell everyone your  _ actual _ favorite movie.” Wynonna had let that secret slip a few weeks ago when the duo had been together.

“You know what it is too?!” Jeremy yelled as his friends stood, arms crossed and unblinking, in some sort of standoff. 

“Yup,” Nicole replied. Neither she or Dolls moved a muscle or took their eyes off the other. 

“I wanna know what it is,” Jeremy mumbled. 

As Nicole and Dolls continued to look like two cowboys at dawn, Waverly walked in. 

“Hey, we’re about to...oomph.” Waverly crashed right into Jeremy’s back. She took in the scene before her and whispered to her friend, “Are they re-enacting that cowboy movie we all fell asleep during?” 

“You said you loved it!” Nicole finally looked away from Dolls to her, um, lady friend. She cringed that she just called Waverly that and was glad she hadn’t said it out loud. 

“Oh, I totally did,” Waverly said. “I just may have rested my eyes for a few seconds, like three seconds, during some of it.”

Waverly bounced up and down on her toes in an attempt to look too adorable for Nicole to be upset that she fell asleep during her favorite movie of all time. A pout began to form, to ya know, add to the cuteness. 

But it turns out the pout wouldn’t be needed. Because there was a two-whiskeys-in Wynonna on the loose. And she was on a mission.

“Baby girl, come on, what is taking so long? I want to get my Kringle on,” she whined. “Yo, dorks! Let’s go! We’re starting the white elephant thingy.”

Wynonna stood sideways in the door frame. “Come on, I know you can do it, one step in front of the other.”

Jeremy started to move, therefore pulling Dolls with him, who threw one last look at Nicole. 

“Good boys.” Wynonna patted Jeremy on the head. “Next?”

Waverly reached her hand out for Nicole, who happily accepted. They lingered for a moment, warm smiles across their faces. Nicole went to bend down when... 

“Nope! You two are going all heart eyes, which means you’re going to start making out in my kitchen soon, and then I’ll never get a gift,” Wynonna said.

The older Earp pulled at her sister’s other arm and dragged all of them through the door to the living room. 

“Like I’m stupid enough to leave you two alone for more than five seconds.” She let go of Waverly and pointed at the couch. “Now sit and stay. Both of you. I have to go grab some gifts from upstairs.”

Waverly and Nicole sat on the couch, Rosita at the other end chatting with Doc. The trio of Dolls, Robin, and Jeremy sat across from them. Dolls kept looking at Nicole and mouthed, “Do it.” 

“Not yet, calm your pecs,” she mouthed back. Nicole subtly shook her head, well, as subtle as she could with the elf hat she had on. 

The redhead could sense Waverly was talking to her, but she only heard about every other word. Her eyes focused on Dolls as she set her lips in a thin line. 

Again, Dolls mouthed, “Do it.”

Suddenly, Nicole felt a tug at her sleeve. She looked to meet hazel eyes that knew she hadn’t been paying attention.

“I’m sorry, what baby?” 

Waverly opened her mouth but didn’t get a chance to answer. Wynonna haphazardly threw all the presents on to the center coffee table, including one that made Waverly’s stomach drop. 

There, now sitting on the table, was Nicole’s gift. The red and green tissue paper that looked so nice in her room now mocked Waverly from her seat on the couch. 

Wynonna dragged a chair from the kitchen up to the table. 

“Alright nerds, here’s how this is going to work,” she started. 

Waverly barely heard her sister talk, all she could hear was her heartbeat in her ears with a thud, thud, thud, as her tunnel vision focused on the gift. 

She snapped back in time to hear Wynonna finish the directions.

“Ok, old man, Doc, you go first.”

“I am barely a year older than you, Wynonna,” Doc said. 

“Still counts.” Wynonna sat back in her chair. “Now go and pick, old man.”

Waverly felt her brow start to sweat as Doc reached for the bag she knew had Nicole’s gift. Her very personal gift. Her “will you be my girlfriend” gift. 

Naturally, Doc went right for it. As he went to pick it up, Waverly swatted his hand away. 

“You can’t take that one!” Waverly yelped, taking the bag and putting it in her lap.

“Okkkk.”

She could feel everyone around the room look at her. Waverly’s face grew hot, a blush worked its way up her neck and on to her cheeks. 

“Baby girl, what is up with you? That’s not how this works.” Wynonna tried to take the gift from her which just made her hold it tighter. “You can’t just claim a gift when it isn’t your turn, even I know that.”

“You’re starting to sound like Gretchen when she tells Regina she can’t sit with them in _Mean_ _Girls_.” Dolls picked lint off the sweater he and Jeremy still shared.

Jeremy gasped. “Oh my god. You’ve watched Mean Girls? The movie or the musical?”

Dolls ignored Jeremy’s question as Wynonna, again, went for the bag.

“No!” Waverly shouted. “This isn’t for you!” She hugged the bag closer to her chest as she bolted out of her seat and ran upstairs. 

“I did not know she could move so quickly,” Doc said. Rosita punched him in the arm. 

After that, the room fell quiet as Wynonna and Nicole shared a look, the look, the one where they both knew something was clearly not ok with their person and one of them should go check on her. Wynonna went to get up but Nicole stopped her.

“I got it, Earp.” Nicole smiled and squeezed Wynonna’s shoulder as she walked past. She turned around to address the group. “You guys keep going, Waves and I can just pick last.”

When no one said anything Nicole moved to the stairs, only to hear Wynonna sucker punch Doc in his other arm. 

“Why pray tell is everyone hitting me?” Doc asked, his voice went up an octave on the last word. All Nicole heard was Wynonna and Rosita simultaneously call him a dumb ass from the top of the steps.

The door to Waverly’s room was slightly ajar, light streamed out into the hallway. Nicole honestly had no idea why Waverly had been so insistent on this one particular gift or why she ran like she did. As she approached the door Nicole did remember that Waverly had been acting a little weird all evening. Anytime Nicole walked into a room with just the Earp sisters in it they would break apart and immediately stop talking. And any time Wynonna had caught her eye in the evening she had winked at Nicole. Honestly, the latter worried her more. 

She shook her head and gently knocked on Waverly’s door. When there was no answer she stuck her head in to see Waverly pacing, the bag now on the floor. Nicole couldn’t tell what she was muttering but there were a lot of wild hand gestures.

Nicole walked in and fully closed the door behind her. 

“Waves?” The brunette stopped once she realized she wasn’t alone. “You wanna tell me what just happened down there?”

Waverly’s whole body deflated with a sigh at the question. Her mouth opened like she was going to talk, but then she picked the bag back up instead. She played with the tissue paper.

“So, I had this idea. Well, technically, Wynonna had this idea,” Waverly rolled her eyes. “And well, I couldn’t think of anything better for this thing I needed an idea for, so, enter Wynonna and her whiteboard, which, I didn’t even know she had a whiteboard. Did you know she had a whiteboard? And like, why does she have a whiteboard? It’s not like she does any research on anything.” 

Nicole took Waverly’s hands and started rubbing light circles around her wrists. She laughed lightly. “Ok, so Wynonna had an idea? That I’m assuming involves this bag?”

Waverly nodded. She handed Nicole the bag and covered her eyes. “Just, ugh, open it.”

“You’re not going to look at me as I do?” Nicole questioned.

Waverly groaned, her hand still over her face. 

“I don’t particularly want to, no, because again, this was, and I can't emphasize this enough, Wynonna’s idea. And you’re probably going to think it’s so dumb and run away from here and I can’t believe I even went along with this,” she said. 

Nicole’s lips turned into the smallest smile. She had seen Waverly take down kids in debates in front of entire auditoriums and high-kick like a Rockette in the middle of a football field, and yet, this was the most nervous Nicole had ever seen her. And it was pretty damn adorable. 

The redhead grabbed Waverly’s hand away from her eyes, which were squeezed shut. 

“Waverly, I won’t make you open your eyes, but I’m sure whatever this is, even with Wynonna’s help, is still going to be something that I absolutely love,” she said. “Plus, your worry wrinkle is getting really intense right now.”

Waverly’s eyes finally opened. “Nicole Rayleigh Haught, I do not have a worry wrinkle.” She pointed at the redhead. “ _ You _ have a worry wrinkle!”

Nicole smirked. 

“Why are you looking at me like that?” Waverly asked. 

“Because I got you to open your eyes,” Nicole beamed. The redhead’s dimples were out in full force as she booped Waverly on the nose. 

“Ok, Casanova, just open the dumb gift already before I take it back.”

Nicole adjusted the elf hat on her head, making the ears slightly crooked. “You wouldn’t dare,” she gasped, her eyes full of mischief as she hugged the bag.

This was the doofus Waverly was about to ask to be her girlfriend.

“Open it, woman,” Waverly laughed.

Nicole wiggled her eyebrows as she took out literally every sheet of tissue paper and folded it. Waverly had never seen another human open a gift so slowly. 

She knew Nicole was trying to make the moment light but Waverly’s palms began to sweat at the realization of what Nicole was about to see. What if this didn’t work? What if Nicole said no, thank you? What if...oh god, the gift was lifted from the bag.

Waverly bit the inside of her cheek as she watched Nicole read the shirt. Waverly wasn’t sure what kind of reaction her gift was about to receive but Nicole’s eyes getting misty had not been one of them. 

Waverly couldn’t stand the whole 11 seconds of silence that had passed between them. Should she say something? Did she need to explain it? Her eyes went round as quarters as she played with the bells on her vest. 

“Nicole, I…you don’t…”

“Waverly, are you…”

They both laughed. Nicole shook her head with a grin. “You go first, baby.” 

Waverly felt the butterflies in her stomach start but then she really looked at Nicole, whose brown eyes shined back at her, full of warmth and patience and something that Waverly hoped could one day turn into love. 

_ Love? Chill out, Earp, one thing at a time. _

She tucked the hair behind her ears and took a steadying breath. 

“Well, the shirt kind of says it all,” Waverly laughed nervously. “But, well I was wondering, do you, um, want to be my girlfriend?” 

Nicole didn’t say anything right away so Waverly, one who was never great at silence, no matter how short, kept talking. 

“Don’t, like, feel like you have to say yes. You can say no. If you want to. You can say whatever it is you want.” She waved her hands dismissively. “Just, um, well, I really like you, Nicole, and I’ve wanted to ask for a while but wasn’t sure if you would be in to, um, being my girlfriend. So, yup, that’s it. Thoughts?”

Nicole still wasn’t talking. She was just staring at Waverly with those stupid puppy eyes and that dumb smile that made her, super dumb dimples pop out. 

So, naturally, the brunette kept talking. 

“Nicole, I can give you time to make up your mind, which is probably going to make the rest of the night really awkward. I don't need an answer, like, right this very...”

Waverly was thankfully cut off by Nicole, who wrapped her arms -- with the shirt still clutched in her hand -- around the smaller girl’s waist, then kissed her soundly. Waverly hummed as the kiss was broken. She placed her hands around the redhead’s neck.

“So, is that a yes?” Waverly asked, nerves still around the edges of her eyes.

“Baby, of course, that’s a yes.” Nicole kissed her softly. “You honestly thought I was going to say no?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know, maybe a teeny tiny bit.”

Nicole leaned back so the brunette could fully see her face as she spoke. 

“Waverly, I’m clearly not doing a good enough job indicating how much I like you, which is  _ a lot _ , if you honestly thought I was going to say no.” Nicole rubbed at the back of her neck, her own nerves started to take hold. “Baby, well, if I’m going to be one hundred percent honest, I’ve really liked you for a long time, as far back as I can remember. Even when I wasn’t sure what those feelings were, I always knew you were going to be someone special to me.” 

“And when you kissed me on Halloween it honestly felt like a dream,” she smiled. “Because there I was, with Waverly freaking Earp, kissing me. It was a moment I’ll never forget.” 

Waverly’s eyes turned into half-moons and she went to speak but Nicole asked her to hold on. If she was going to be vulnerable, she was going all in. 

“I’ve wanted to ask for a while too, but I didn’t want to rush you, and I kept thinking it had to be this giant, grand gesture,” Nicole whispered. “I kept trying to come up with something magical but I didn’t need that because every moment I spend is magical with you, Waves.” 

Waverly got on her tip-toes, both of them smiling in to the kiss. 

“Well then, do you have something you would like to ask me?” Waverly said in a teasing tone as her fingers roamed the back of Nicole’s head. 

Nicole laughed and finally got to ask the question she had been wanting to do for what felt like a lifetime.

“Waverly, will you be my girlfriend?”

The brunette put her forefinger and thumb to her chin in her best impression of Wynonna’s thinking face. 

“Hmmm, do you need an answer like right now? Or can I give you a decision later?”

Nicole’s hands gripped tighter around Waverly’s waist, who giggled as their bodies were pushed closer together. She brushed her nose over the bridge of Waverly’s.

“Now, please,” Nicole said.

“Ok, yes then, but only because you asked so politely. I like that in a girlfriend.”

Waverly’s lips hovered over Nicole. “Know what else I like in a girlfriend?”

“Hmmm.” Nicole closed her eyes, anticipating a kiss.

Waverly jumped back when Nicole leaned forward. Her eyes shot open as the brunette held another bag in her hands, a look on her face that could only be described as more naughty than nice.

“One who is willing to wear silly t-shirts.”

\----------------

“So close, yet so far,” Jeremy said as he stretched his arm its full length across the table, which was proving rather difficult given Dolls was still in the other half of their shared sweater and refused to move.

His fingers had barely touched the bag’s handle when Rosita finally took pity on him and handed him the gift. He smiled graciously. 

“How have you only gotten through two more gifts?” Waverly asked, now downstairs hand-in-hand with her best baby. “We were upstairs for like half an hour.”

“Baby girl, you don’t get to judge how long…” Wynonna turned fully towards the couple and spit her whiskey back in the glass. She kicked her chair back, almost taking out Robin in the process, then walked over to the couple. She pulled on the ends of Nicole’s shirt.

“Hey, leave my girlfriend alone.” Waverly pushed at Wynonna’s hands with a tone that didn’t match the smile on her face.

Wynonna laughed. “Oh, we are all  _ very  _ aware that she’s your girlfriend now.”

Nicole blushed and tugged slightly on her green shirt, which proudly read, “If found, please return to my girlfriend,” in gold cursive.

“Finally!” Dolls shouted as he got up, dragging Jeremy with him. “It’s about freaking time.”

Now it was Waverly’s turn to blush as her friends took in her own red shirt, that said, “I’m girlfriend.”

The brunette felt her girlfriend’s -- she was going to be  _ so  _ obnoxious about calling Nicole that every chance she got -- hand move around her waist, a light kiss to the top of her head.

“No need to be ass, Dolls,” Nicole smiled. “It took us the perfect amount of time to become girlfriends.” 

Waverly beamed up at Nicole, who had a similar look on her face. 

Before they could go full-on heart eyes though Wynonna shouted, “This was my idea! All of it! The shirts! The colors. The words. I am clearly a genius and you should all be so lucky to constantly be in my presence. I should also be one of those fixer-uppers and help people find each other and get married.”

“You mean a matchmaker?” Rosita laughed.

“Yeah, sure, that, whatever,” Wynonna said, then winked at Waverly. “You are  _ welcome _ , baby girl.”

Then she winked at Nicole. “You’re welcome too, Haught Stuff.”

Nicole’s eyebrows shot up her forehead and she tightened her grip around Waverly. 

“Please Wynonna, never wink at my  _ girlfriend _ like that again,” she said.

“Yeah, Waverly’s  _ girlfriend _ doesn’t really appreciate that,” Nicole replied, looking at Waverly. 

Wynonna groaned as the two looked at each other like no one else was in the room. 

“Oh god, what have I done?” she mumbled. “I’ve created a monster. One, big queer, they are only going to call each other girlfriend, monster.”

The group started to walk away when Rosita asked when she and Wynonna got to wear the sweater next. Dolls and Jeremy tried to take it off, and Wynonna somehow got them caught in it when she was trying to “help.”

And yet, while Jeremy screamed, Dolls and Wynonna yelled at each other, Doc said that they were going to have to cut them out, and Rosita asked where the big scissors were, Waverly and Nicole stood off to the side, in each other’s arms, eyes only for each other.

They might as well have been in their own private snow globe.

“Hey, girlfriend,” Nicole smiled.

“Hi, girlfriend.”

“Look up.”

And there, right above them, was mistletoe. 

“Best. Christmas. Ever,” Waverly whispered as she went to kiss her girlfriend.

The smile Nicole had when they separated couldn’t have been bigger. Yeah, Waverly could get used to this whole girlfriend thing.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Hopefully you enjoy these high school dorks as much as I am.
> 
> Come and find me on Twitter [danacas1101 ](https://twitter.com/danacas1101)


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